For the attention of: Cc: Mr Guy Ryder Mr Mounir Kleibo, ILO Director-General ILO Jerusalem Representative Geneva, Switzerland ILO in the occupied Palestinian territory Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] 4 May 2020 Ref: Joint Open Letter – Protection of Palestinian Workers During and After COVID-19 Dear Mr Ryder, We, the undersigned civil society organisations, trade unions, and concerned citizens around the world, address this joint open letter to the International Labour Organization (ILO) on the occasion of International Workers’ Day on 1 May 2020, urging you to take action in the framework of your mandate to protect the rights, livelihoods, and dignity of Palestinian workers, women and men, and their families during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work has confirmed the essential role that ILO, one hundred years since its creation, must play for the achievement of ‘social justice, democracy and the promotion of universal and lasting peace.’i We welcome the ILO’s recent statement calling on governments around the world to take action to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace. As stressed by the ILO, ‘It is only by implementing occupational safety and health measures that we can protect the lives of workers, their families and the larger communities, ensure work continuity and economic survival.’ii We also welcome the ILO’s Palestinian Decent Work Programme, as a serious effort to enhance employment and livelihood opportunities and realise fundamental principles and rights at work for Palestinian women and men.iii Around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated vulnerabilities linked to poverty, discrimination, conflict and occupation. In Palestine, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the forefront Israel’s regime of institutionalised racial domination and oppression over the Palestinian people as a whole, which amounts to the crime of apartheid.iv As highlighted in your latest 2019 report on the situation of workers of the occupied Arab territories, ‘the Palestinians themselves have little scope to improve their destiny. The Israeli occupation is stifling in every respect, dominating almost every aspect of Palestinian life.’v Throughout the occupied Palestinian territory, the Israeli occupying authorities have continued to indiscriminately target Palestinians’ livelihoods during the COVID-19 pandemic, including through attacks on farmers, shepherds, and fishermen in the Gaza Strip.vi During COVID-19, the susceptibility of Palestinian workers to the pandemic has been compounded, with the Israeli occupying authorities continuing to prioritize economic considerations over the inherent rights and dignity of Palestinian workers. With the start of the outbreak, the Israeli occupying 1 Joint Open Letter to the ILO – Protection of Palestinian Workers During and After COVID-19, 4 May 2020 authorities allowed approximately 60,000 Palestinian workers employed in Israel to temporarily reside in Israel for a maximum period of two months during the public health emergency, with Israeli employers mandated to ensure adequate housing, proper sanitation, and food for workers.vii Yet, Palestinian workers have faced dire housing conditions and have been forced to sleep at construction sites or in greenhouses,viii while Palestinian workers displaying symptoms of the flu have been thrown at checkpoints without coordination to ensure they would receive treatment.ix At the same time, the Israeli occupying authorities have refused to test Palestinian workers for COVID-19, thereby failing to take adequate measures to curb the spread of the pandemic in the occupied Palestinian territory, and further undermined containment and mitigation efforts by the Palestinian Authority for returning workers. The Palestinian Health Ministry has found that workers, their families, and their contacts make up a majority of COVID-19 infections in the West Bank.x As we commemorate International Workers’ Day and the achievements in advancing labour rights across the globe, Palestinian workers employed in Israel and in illegal Israeli settlements continue to endure dire working conditions, receive lower wages than their Israeli counterparts, and are denied access to healthcare and other benefits, amongst other discriminatory policies and practices of the Israeli occupation.xi In particular, the Israeli construction sector, which is dominated by Palestinian workers from both sides of the Green Line and which has continued as an ‘essential service’ during COVID-19, is considered to be one of the most dangerous sectors for work-related accidents, as it lacks the necessary supervision by the Israeli government, whose responsibility it is to ensure that employers uphold Palestinian workers’ rights.xii As highlighted by the ILO, COVID-19 has exposed the fragility of economies across the globe, with the pandemic having the potential ‘in the longer-term [to] dramatically amplify cycles of poverty and inequality.’xiii It is therefore more urgent than ever to address the prolonged denial of the individual and collective rights of the Palestinian people as the root cause depriving Palestinians of an adequate standard of living, including the right to work. Notably, United Nations Special Rapporteurs have recalled Israel’s legal duty to ensure that Palestinians receive essential health services,xiv expressed concerns over Israel impeding efforts to effectively control and mitigate the impacts of COVID-19, and called for equal access to treatment and testing without discrimination.xv Accordingly, we the undersigned civil society organisations, trade unions, and concerned citizens around the world call on you today, as Director-General of the ILO, to: i. Send an urgent letter to the Minister of Labour and Minister of Health in Israel, calling on the Israeli occupying authorities to urgently provide Palestinian workers with their three months’ wages during the emergency period, as per Israeli labour law; to take all necessary measures, including with employers, to guarantee healthcare coverage for Palestinian workers during and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic; to provide Palestinian workers staying in Israel with adequate housing, food, water, and sanitation, as essential to upholding their rights and mitigating the effects of COVID-19 amongst workers and their families upon return; and 2 Joint Open Letter to the ILO – Protection of Palestinian Workers During and After COVID-19, 4 May 2020 ii. Invite the 109th session of the International Labour Conference to hold Israel, the occupying power, accountable for its violation of Palestinian workers’ rights through the adequate supervision of the Committee of Experts to implement the recommendations of the report on the situation of workers of the occupied Arab territories and for the enforcement of the conventions it has ratified. Yours sincerely, Organisations worldwide: 1. Asociación Alnakba, Venezuela 2. Asociación Árabe Guatemalteca, Guatemala 3. Asociación Canaán, Venezuela 4. Asociación Comunidad Palestina, Guatemala 5. Asociación Salvadoreña Palestina, El Salvador 6. Association Belgo-Palestinienne (ABP), Belgium 7. Association France-Palestine Solidarité (AFPS), France 8. Assopace Palestina, Italy 9. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), Egypt 10. Centre for Arab Unity Studies, Lebanon 11. Cine Fértil, Argentina 12. Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem (CCPRJ), Palestine 13. CNCD-11.11.11, Belgium 14. Comunidad Colombo-Palestina, Colombia 15. Comunidad Palestina de Chile, Chile 16. Een Andere Joodse Stem (Another Jewish Voice), Belgium 17. Europal Forum, United Kingdom 18. European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine (ECCP), Belgium 19. European Legal Support Center (ELSC), The Netherlands 20. European Trade Union Network for Justice in Palestine – Steering Committee 21. Fundación Cultural Colombo Palestina, Colombia 22. Habitat International Coalition – Housing and Land Rights Network (HIC-HLRN), Egypt 23. Instituto Brasil Palestina (IBRASPAL), Brazil 24. International Labour Network of Solidarity and Struggles 25. Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Ireland 26. Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), United States 27. Juventud Chileno-Árabe por Palestina de Valdivia, Chile 28. Mouvement contre le Racisme et pour l’Amitié entre les Peuples (MRAP), France 29. Mouvement International de la Réconciliation (MIR), France 30. Organización Solidaria con Palestina (OSP-Chile), Chile 31. Palästina Spricht, Koalition für palästinensische Rechte und gegen Rassismus – Palestine Speaks, Coalition for Palestinian Rights and Against Racism, Germany 3 Joint Open Letter to the ILO – Protection of Palestinian Workers During and After COVID-19, 4 May 2020 32. Palestine Solidarity Campaign, United Kingdom 33. Palestinian National Institute for NGOs (PNIN), Palestine 34. Plateforme des ONG françaises pour la Palestine, France 35. Society of St. Yves – Catholic Center for Human Rights, Palestine 36. The Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD), Palestine 37. Unión Árabe de Cuba, Cuba 38. Unión General de Estudiantes Palestinos (UGEP-Chile), Chile 39. Union Juive Française pour la Paix (UJFP), France 40. Unión Palestina de América Latina (UPAL), El Salvador 41. Union syndicale Solidaires, France 42. Youth Development Association (YDA), Palestine The Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC), Palestine, including: 43. Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association 44. Al Mezan Center